Defilement accused freed

PINI BOTHOKO
Correspondent | Friday August 10, 2012 00:00

FRANCISTOWN: Two men, Otsetswe Ramaretwa (23) and Obusitswe Mosalalowa (25) who both faced a single charge of defilement, walked out of the magistrate court as free men on Thursday morning.The duo were facing charges of defilement of one Chawada Engleton in 2007 at Gerald Estate. When giving his judgement on both cases, Senior Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalu said his ruling affected the duo's cases because they both had had carnal knowledge of Engleton from January to May 2007.

He said both accused pleaded not guilty to the offence they were charged with on the grounds that they were not aware of her age:'On the material date between January to May 2007, both of you had intimate relationships with Chawada and you sometimes used protection,' he said.Mulalu added the fact that the girl fell pregnant was not in dispute as she gave birth to a boy in 2008.  He said the forensic laboratory results proved that Ramaretwa fathered the child:'After the child was born, the investigating officer on the case, Detective Sergeant Babuyi Tsatsi, gave evidence that he took Chawada to a dental specialist whose results estimated Chawada's age to be over 18 years in 2008' said Mulalu.Mulalu said that was the reason he asked for time to look further into the case to determined if the duo had a case to answer to or not.

'The submission of the case can be upheld only when there isn't enough evidence on the case for it to be acquitted,' he said.He also said that the state was supposed to prove whether the two accused had indeed engaged in a sexual relationship with someone who they knew was under the age of 16. 'At this point, that has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.  What the state should have done is bring enough evidence before the court that shows that the duo was indeed guilty of the offence,' he said.

Mulalu went on to say in a case where age is an issue, the mother of the child or someone close to her should be the ones to prove the alleged victim's age.He said, 'I had no doubt about Chawada's age until the evidence from the investigating officer, who revealed that he asked for Engleton's birth certificate to prove her age or birth card, and her mother failed to produce them.'He said he did not want it to seem as if he didn't want to agree with Chawada's mother but what the doctor said ties in with what the accused said about Chawada's age:'Another thing is that evidence presented before court by the complaint herself shows that she hid her age from the accused.  I am disappointed by how Chawada's mother handled this case.  She was called to school after her child dropped out because of her pregnancy and she decided to keep quiet,' he said.

The judge said the mother said she did not want to report the matter because the damage was already done, this showing that she neglected her child.'It is embarrassing for a parent to say this before the court.  I believe that parents are the ones to protect their children and if she (Chawada's mother) took action, the matter might have been different,' explained Mulalu.Meanwhile, Mulalu told Mosalalowa that his case had similarities to Ramaretwa's, but were only differentiated by a few factors.'What differentiates your case from Ramaretwa's case is that the dates of your alleged and respective offences differ and that after the test was conducted it showed that you are not the father of the child,' Mulalu explained to Mosalalowa.Mulalu said Mosalalowa was also discharged and acquitted.